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What if 2005 had been this way?

Yeah, a lot of what ifs in there. If the Texans were looking for a break, it inevitably went the other way
 
Your Dom Capers Texans were not built well at all. They began their inaugural season with an entirely effective defense and just threw their offense together around a rookie QB with no support system whatsoever. Honestly, taking a shot at a QB first overall is a bold move that seems to rarely pay off. Peppers was the pick and Tony Banks should have been our QB until at least 2004. I realize no one can see the future but if you look at the Texans original plan as stated they said right up front that they wanted to build the lines first. Then proceeded to fall for the 1st overall QB meme. It's sad.

If you draft Peppers first (like you should have) then you can sign a FA like Banks (which they did) and do everything else that first draft the same way. Now it's hard to look at Jabar Gaffney in the 2nd as a good idea knowing what we know now but given all the same players in the beginning you could best that 2002 win total with Banks calling the shots. Did anyone else ever notice that each time Carr went out in the early years and Banks came in the offense settled down and began moving the ball. No they didn't turn into the "Greatest Show on Turf" but they stopped looking like they didn't know how to play football. That's because Carr was a mess and if he ever had a chance to be a franchise QB he needed to sit for a year or two. With the Texans choosing to start out with an older defense from day one they didn't have those years and should have gone with Banks.

In 2003 you add AJ and again make things just a little better by pulling your head out of your butt and maybe not wasting all those 2nd and 3rd round picks on guys who couldn't play. Can't see the future again but Dave Ragone? Seth Wand? These were guys who didn't even belong in the league and you probably don't waste a pick on Antwan Peek if you took Peppers the previous year and he's playing OLB for you. It's like bad picks led to more bad picks.

2004 After Dunta Robinson did anyone pan out other than Jason Babin long after we had given up on him? Never seen a GM find more JAG's as fast as Casserly did.

2005 and it all cuminates in Charlie finding a way to trade down and draft Travis "Slug" Johnson while Jammal Brown, Thomas Davis, Derrick Johnson, Marcus Spears, Aaron Rogers, Heath Miller, and Logan Mankins were all still on the board (and that's just staying the players who went in the first round!). He drafted nobody in the 2005 draft. Not one player who did anything.

I'd say all the wins the Texans assembled under Dom Capers were accomplished on the back of the expansion draft defense that was put together in year one and that aside from those players the rest of the team just got more experienced but never really that much better. It was the same story the Texans have always struggled with. Players didn't come here and get better. Bad drafting and lack of player development were the problems.
 
Hervoyel said:
Your Dom Capers Texans were not built well at all. They began their inaugural season with an entirely effective defense and just threw their offense together around a rookie QB with no support system whatsoever. Honestly, taking a shot at a QB first overall is a bold move that seems to rarely pay off. Peppers was the pick and Tony Banks should have been our QB until at least 2004. I realize no one can see the future but if you look at the Texans original plan as stated they said right up front that they wanted to build the lines first. Then proceeded to fall for the 1st overall QB meme. It's sad.

If you draft Peppers first (like you should have) then you can sign a FA like Banks (which they did) and do everything else that first draft the same way. Now it's hard to look at Jabar Gaffney in the 2nd as a good idea knowing what we know now but given all the same players in the beginning you could best that 2002 win total with Banks calling the shots. Did anyone else ever notice that each time Carr went out in the early years and Banks came in the offense settled down and began moving the ball. No they didn't turn into the "Greatest Show on Turf" but they stopped looking like they didn't know how to play football. That's because Carr was a mess and if he ever had a chance to be a franchise QB he needed to sit for a year or two. With the Texans choosing to start out with an older defense from day on they didn't have those years and should have gone with Banks.

In 2003 you add AJ and again make things just a little better by pulling your head out of your butt and maybe not wasting all those 2nd and 3rd round picks on guys who couldn't play. Can't see the future again but Dave Ragone? Seth Wand? These were guys who didn't even belong in the league and you probably don't waste a pick on Antwan Peek if you took Peppers the previous year and he's playing OLB for you. It's like bad picks led to more bad picks.

2004 After Dunta Robinson did anyone pan out other than Jason Babin long after we had given up on him? Never seen a GM find more JAG's as fast as Casserly did.

2005 and it all cuminates in Charlie finding a way to trade down and draft Travis "Slug" Johnson while Jammal Brown, Thomas Davis, Derrick Johnson, Marcus Spears, Aaron Rogers, Heath Miller, and Logan Mankins were all still on the board (and that's just staying the players who went in the first round!). He drafted nobody in the 2005 draft. Not one player who did anything.

I'd say all the wins the Texans assembled under Dom Capers were accomplished on the back of the expansion draft defense that was put together in year one and that aside from those players the rest of the team just got more experienced but never really that much better. It was the same story the Texans have always struggled with. Players didn't come here and get better. Bad drafting and lack of player development were the problems.
Click to expand...
This should be required reading for fans.
 
Great post Herv, but didn't Rick Smith join Kubes in 2006? Or did he come a year later? My memory isn't clear on that.
 
Hervoyel said:
True. Kubiak steps in, I assume gets to hold the steering wheel, and all of a sudden the Texans are drafting decent players. I don't imagine Charlie just suddenly got brilliant after doing that badly four years in a row.
Click to expand...

My question is why did Charlie do so bad? The guy was pretty good at other stops. What happened to him in Houston? Was he getting pressure from Bob? We know Smith had Bob's ear and he was doing OK. Except for the Brock situation that sources say OB didn't know about till it was all but a done deal. Maybe he decided after CC that letting the GM make the call was better than him.

Thoughts?
 
SnakeEyes said:
My question is why did Charlie do so bad? The guy was pretty good at other stops. What happened to him in Houston? Was he getting pressure from Bob? We know Smith had Bob's ear and he was doing OK. Except for the Brock situation that sources say OB didn't know about till it was all but a done deal. Maybe he decided after CC that letting the GM make the call was better than him.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Casserly inherited a Redskins team that was talented and well-coached with Joe Gibbs and his staff. Once Gibbs left, that team fell apart and had a several bad years under Petitbon and Norv Turner.

If you look at Casserly's record drafting, he was terrible. His last draft with the Skins he was able to get Champ Bailey...and that was pretty much it, even though he'd traded his 1st round pick to the Saints for ALL their draft picks that year. Prior to that, his best draft picks were Mark Schlereth and Frank Wycheck (who was actually at his best when he went to Tennessee.) And he lucked into those guys in the later rounds. His first rounders never developed into quality starters (except for Champ Bailey.)

If it hadn't been for Gibbs and his staff, Casserly wouldn't have had the breaking-even record he ended up with.
 
The Pencil Neck said:
Casserly inherited a Redskins team that was talented and well-coached with Joe Gibbs and his staff. Once Gibbs left, that team fell apart and had a several bad years under Petitbon and Norv Turner.

If you look at Casserly's record drafting, he was terrible. His last draft with the Skins he was able to get Champ Bailey...and that was pretty much it, even though he'd traded his 1st round pick to the Saints for ALL their draft picks that year. Prior to that, his best draft picks were Mark Schlereth and Frank Wycheck (who was actually at his best when he went to Tennessee.) And he lucked into those guys in the later rounds. His first rounders never developed into quality starters (except for Champ Bailey.)

If it hadn't been for Gibbs and his staff, Casserly wouldn't have had the breaking-even record he ended up with.
Click to expand...

Casserly was bad at his job and spent too much money. The McNair's became gun shy after the Casserly experience and started to get into personnel calls based on money rather than playing performance.

How Casserly has an analyst job is simply amazing.
 
Charlie Casserly was the proverbial "kick me" sign that other owners had planted on Bob McNair. The owners knew what Casserly was and knew that the Texans would be an easy "W" for the years that he was the GM. And they were right.

David Carr, on the other hand, was pure owner hubris. He never had to compete for the job and was gifted the starting role just by being drafted at 1.1, and by looking good on inaugural season merch.

Notice that neither Casserly nor Carr found any success in the NFL after their stints with the Texans, and both ended up as "analysts" on NFLN in the end. Which really reveals the low standards that NFLN has for analysts, because both of them are babblers that never offer much true insight into the NFL (or football in general, tbh).

Fortunately, Kubiak arrived and eventually achieved the franchise's first winning season, first playoff berth, and first playoff win. For a while I was worried that this franchise would be like the Saints in never having a winning record for the first two decades.

Now I just accept that this franchise will never reach an AFC championship game, much less a SB berth. It is what it is.
:texan:
 
Double Barrel said:
Charlie Casserly was the proverbial "kick me" sign that other owners had planted on Bob McNair. The owners knew what Casserly was and knew that the Texans would be an easy "W" for the years that he was the GM. And they were right.

David Carr, on the other hand, was pure owner hubris. He never had to compete for the job and was gifted the starting role just by being drafted at 1.1, and by looking good on inaugural season merch.

Notice that neither Casserly nor Carr found any success in the NFL after their stints with the Texans, and both ended up as "analysts" on NFLN in the end. Which really reveals the low standards that NFLN has for analysts, because both of them are babblers that never offer much true insight into the NFL (or football in general, tbh).

Fortunately, Kubiak arrived and eventually achieved the franchise's first winning season, first playoff berth, and first playoff win. For a while I was worried that this franchise would be like the Saints in never having a winning record for the first two decades.

Now I just accept that this franchise will never reach an AFC championship game, much less a SB berth. It is what it is.
:texan:
Click to expand...

If you thought we were going to be like the saints but ended up not being like the saints then that means that since you never expect an AFC Championship game or Super Bowl birth we will get on.

Thanks!
 
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